A new and keen developer on the forums has asked - "What about text processing in Pd?" to which I replied "Pd doesn't do strings". I tie myself in knots trying string-like operations sometimes :), so I know its a can of worms, but what are the fundamental limitations surrounding symbol. How do we deal with EOL or NULL and so on, and what about encoding? Did I hear a rumour that better string handling is chalked in for Pd soon? An alphanumeric sort, maybe even a [grep] or [sed]? What would be the best way to introduce the concept of strings to Pd in a consistent and robust way. I see them as lists of symbols without any need for a new type but right now there are pieces of the jigsaw missing. Sorry so many questions, but it's bugging me today. a.